Has there ever been two more gracious, classy exits on Dancing With The Stars than with Kirstie Alley and Gilles Marini? There have been many. I know. But, wow, Gilles really touched on me last night when he thanked not only the show, but, his wife and then there were the kind words he said about Peta too. This is from the ET Online interview for an example….

“This woman was in my life 24/7 and she never gave up anything, and she always wanted me to look amazing and she pushed me to places that I never knew I would go when it comes down to these performances,” he retold ET of his talk with his partner.

“I felt safe at all times,” he praised. “I was always worried because this is my personality [and] I wanted to do so much more, but I always felt safe with her. I had the best time.”

Another thing I loved about Gilles was his love for this Country and being a new citizen! He made a statement through out the season to never take our freedoms for granted.

Kirstie!! Once again (as she did before in the first season she danced), she reminded me of how important it is to stay positive, not to take life so seriously, and to LAUGH!! She also reminded me that growing old doesn’t have to be and that we can dance until we die. I will forever be a fan of this woman and her beautiful, young, passionate, energetic, fun spirit and I hope we see her entertaining the world forever.

With all that said, here are their interviews after they were eliminated last night. Lots of laughs and some tears too…

Stay tuned! We’ll add their Good Morning America interview as soon as we can!

UPDATE: And HERE is their Good Morning America interview. It’s ‘too early in the morning’ for them, but, note how George tries to ask Maks about his movie career, but, Maks doesn’t reveal anything except to say he’s looking forward to the opportunities.

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

Kirstie is gone…and so is the fun. I’ll still watch, but it won’t be the same. It’s kinda nice not having a horse in the race. Now I can just observe. Everyone was so complimentary of Kirstie ( except Karina, LOL,Apolo wouldn’t let her get a word in, but I’m sure she likes her , too.) and I think they’re gonna miss her. Even Gilles was not so hard to take in his exit interviews.

My first observation is that Val needs a smack upside his head. If it wasn’t for that “brother” label he probably wouldn’t be on the show. Ungrateful brat. !

Peta made me tear up in that OTRC interviw. Gilles does have an intense personality & he touched on that briefly & admitted that maybe he lost sight of the fun part a bit & focused on the work too much. Having said that, it’s that intensity that has probably helped him get where he is today & helped him to be the wonderful husband, father & friend that I see him to be. He and Peta seem to have a ton of respect for each other. Looking forward to finding out what it is they will be working on together.

If only Gilles of this season had resembled the man we saw in his exit. No he wasn’t completely charming but at least he was tolerable and significantly less douchey.

All he and Peta had to do was shut their mouths and put together routines that fit his strengths (which are many) and they would have waltzed into the finals (pun intended). Instead I can only lament what could have been and watch his season 8 dances, pretending that scheduling conflicts prevented him from ever partaking in the All-Star season.

So happy for the five couples, now I hope for Emmit and Kelly to leave next week.
And again: just love Apolo and Karina, now we talking real honest chemistry, the interviews with them make me smile every single time!!!

Not a mega fan of kirstie but she looks great and I do think she has a heart of gold ! I will miss maks :-( I agree if only eliminated gilles was the gilles of the all stars instead of the one we got :-( I disliked allstar gilles but loved season 8 gilles ! Think val is a lovely dancer and has improved kelly 100% but cant warm to them :-( I hope its an apolo shawn melissa final :-)

Lovely interview both of them. It’s sad that Gilles came across badly during this season. I think the problem was he seems a very intense person and try very hard to get the things done. Peta didn’t help either with her choreography, reinforce the sex appeal why she didn’t need to because he can dance.
Maybe Kim would it brought another side of him, in terms of choreography.
I love Kristy, she is a lovely, inspirational lady.
I don’t think Karina has any problems with Kristie, in an interview on the view before the season Started, Karina said that Kristie is an inspirational woman, charismatic and she does bring that to the floor.
Anyway Apollo was to chatty that she barely could answer the questions.
I don’t see the romance between Kelly and Val, but a lot people do. In the UK forum people are just enchanted by these two, most of them have vote for them online just to see them win and get married, lol.

I don’t see the romance between Kelly and Val, but a lot people do. In the UK forum people are just enchanted by these two, most of them have vote for them online just to see them win and get married, lol.

It’s funny about the “romance” thing. I think Val and Kelly have a “connection” and have “clicked” (and he may even have some personal feelings for her), but, I don’t see a full born romance between them or her thinking romantically on him (even though at times they both try to make it look like there is something more with the way they stare at each other, lol). IF (I stress “if”) there is a romance going on this season and something more real, I see it more with Apolo and Karina….though not sure they know it yet?

I love Kirstie’s positive spirit and understanding that the show isn’t the be all end all of her life. I love her sense of joy even when she got on my nerves, she’s just joyful and I love that about her!

I will say that Val could use a smack upside the head for many things he’s said, but I do get where he’s coming from. He is thankful for his brother getting him where he is so far but it must be hard to try and make a name for yourself and constantly be called, the younger brother of, the little Chmerkovskiy, the…..I’m sorry what’s your name again?
So I didn’t feel he was being disrespectful even if it came off that way. I’m glad for him that he’s made it this far and Maks getting voted off first with Kirstie’s fanbase is probably a little bittersweet for Val. He just wants to be known for who he is. I just hope he realizes he needs to work on that part from some of the things he’s said that turn people off and can be offensive, rude and cocky.

Val/Kelly reminds me of when Angelina Jolie took her brother to the Oscars and they started making out on camera.

Apolo/Karina is more subtle. Sometimes subtle is more sexy and fun to watch bloom than bam in your face I’m just gonna jump and dry hump you like a dog begging for attention.

I really didn’t see any issues with Kirstie/Karina. I mean if Peta doesn’t have an issue with the her why would anyone else? Didn’t Peta ask Karina to join the trio with Donald last year? And they were praticall asking each other what dances they wanted last night….which really annoyed Tom. :)

It is lovely to see how much Kirstie enjoyed herself and glad she stayed for 8 weeks. I enjoyed every week of her performances and seeing how Maks is enjoying himself with her. I won’t be watching DWTS now that she is out.

Gilles is really good at dancing and work very hard, but he takes the contest and winning so seriously, it shows insecurity and unworthiness unless I win. Not everyone who wants to win has that problem but he sure seems that way. That ‘arrogance’ people see is actually inferiority’s other face. Nonetheless, I like the real him. He should still be in the context with Emmitt or Kelly out first.

I didn’t watch but some people mention that his was a douche as his usual self during the view today. He s said that all his dances were almost perfect, and that other people [apparently referring to those who are still on the show] are popular.

his tweets are the worst, I get he is unhappy about it but com on, there is a limit for that, even Sabrina was able to handle better

Gilles Marini ‏@GillesMarini:
Bad things do happen; how I respond to them makes me who I’m! I can paralyze myself with this loss, or I can choose to rise & smile at life.

It’s very odd how tonight I feel lonely in the busiest city in the world:( #NYC http://img.ly/pK5S “This too shall Pass”